How did Field Day go for you?

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KC0KM

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Dec 19, 2002
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Kansas City (Raytown) MO
Over all we had a rather pleasant Field Day this year. In previous years we have often treated it like a contest, and where out to win (our previous Field Day Coordinator is an award winning contester). This year we decided to operate as 1A instead of the usual 2A. We lacked having the GOTA station, or the others, however it was less hectic. It did not take too long to set up, and we where done with tear down, and where leaving with in an hour and a half after shut down. Over all we did roughly 1000 some odd QSO's, not too bad considering the conditions. I was able to operate a few times, and coached a few times as well. Helped my father make a contact (6M) (one of our "elected officials" who was on the radio), and helped our "youth" make a contact, a pretty 17 year old YL. We had fun, and no hassles, over all it went well for us.
 

cmdrwill

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So Cali
Field Day was great this year. Not so much a contest but a learning class. Solar/battery power. Sunday morning was the best HF propagation.
 

PrimeNumber

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Dec 15, 2011
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MS Gulf Coast
It went pretty well. Blisteringly hot down here in coastal MS, but we set up antennas, snaked coax through a window, cranked up the AC, and operated anyway.
 

KC0KM

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Kansas City (Raytown) MO
Here are a few photos of our Field Day operations, K0GQ 1A MO.
 

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AC2OY

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Mar 29, 2011
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Belleville,New Jersey
We got hammered with rain for two days and for us northern New Jersey the bands were horrible. I think we did 295 contacts 84 on CW. We were a five alpha.
 

k6cpo

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Dec 30, 2013
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San Diego, CA
My primary responsibility at Field Day over the last several years has been the public information table. When I first did it in 2011, we had a lot of non-ham visitors to our site. Last year and this year, the numbers have tapered off substantially. This year we had five people sign our visitor's register, the Section Manager, Assistant Section Manager, a Lt from the local Police Department, A County Supervisor and the Chairman of the local ham radio club council...

We did more pre-event outreach this year than ever before and had fewer people show up. Of course, rainy and overcast weather might have had something to do with that...
 

SCPD

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Feb 24, 2001
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Virginia
10 was dead

K6MEP had a great field day, but the bands were real bad here inSoCal. I worked 10m and had only 8 contacts.

We came up from 15 to 10 for about 20 minutes. Could hear 'em, but they couldn't hear us. Zero contacts on 10, went back to 15 until the end.
 

K3DRQ

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Aug 10, 2010
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Milford, PA
15m was excellent this Field Day. In fact so much so that I only wound up using 15m and 20m. (I was operating as a 1D from home and only got on during afternoons and evenings)
 

Project25_MASTR

Millennial Graying OBT Guy
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Jun 16, 2013
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Texas
This field day I didn't get on a radio. 2nd year in a row where I have not operated a radio.

The local club was motivated (like always) to get out there but once out there it was simply an excuse to get away from their wives. Only about 15 people showed up total and even though they were operating as 3A only 1 radio was ever in use.

I helped setup Friday night, took down Sunday. Blew the engine on my dd somewhere in between. I had a fun weekend, but not really anything associated with field day.
 

bill4long

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Aug 6, 2012
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Indianapolis
Tons of contacts and some pretty decent ragchews on 15 meters. 10 thru 20 was on fire for a while, then died abruptly.
 

mancow

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N.E. Kansas
I could hear plenty of stations but never could get a reply. I then drank way too much and fell asleep under a tree.
 

N8OHU

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Jun 9, 2012
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This field day I didn't get on a radio. 2nd year in a row where I have not operated a radio.

The local club was motivated (like always) to get out there but once out there it was simply an excuse to get away from their wives. Only about 15 people showed up total and even though they were operating as 3A only 1 radio was ever in use.

I helped setup Friday night, took down Sunday. Blew the engine on my dd somewhere in between. I had a fun weekend, but not really anything associated with field day.
The local club here can't use it as an excuse to get away from the wives; most of them are licensed hams too and at least one of them is critical to our Field Day effort. Of course, she's also an NCS for Mid-CARS, so she has lots of practice pulling callsigns out of the static.
 

w6srf

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May 7, 2013
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Couldn't participate this year. Had to work... W6SRF

Sent from my UFO mother ship
 

KK4SGF

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Oct 28, 2014
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Field Day 2015? Well....we are a very small club in a small town, just 2A with a GOTA. The only band that was open pretty much Sat and Sun was 40M so we had to take turns. Good fellowship and we learned a few things but in general, in spite of the awful T-storms that were all around the entire weekend we had fun and no one got hurt. Guess that counts for a success!!! I know this is the internet and the second I post this someone in my local club is gonna call cussing me out but.....I wish in a way that small clubs like ours and the many small towns around us here in SW Ga would at least entertain the idea of possibly combining our Field Day events one year, you know? We'd have SO many more people and learn SO much more from those extra folks with all of the new fangled fancy ham toys but...it seems like it's against some unwritten law for clubs to blend or intermingle during Field Day and I think the reason it can't happen is not a good one...like that know-it-all, legend on their own mind type personality would not gain their proper Op of the Century accolades if they were to be shown up in some way but...I dunno. With only 6 or 7 people it's just so boooring and so much work too. Does anyone have any cheese to accent my whine??? :)
 

cmdrwill

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Mar 30, 2005
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So Cali
KK4SGF,

Combining small clubs for Field Day and other events is a great idea. We did much the same thing here in So California for the last four years.

It takes a lot of work to get the different groups together. Some clubs or groups would not be able to do Field Day on their own.

The different groups bring different skills to the event.
 
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Mile High, or more.
...... I know this is the internet and the second I post this someone in my local club is gonna call cussing me out but.....I wish in a way that small clubs like ours and the many small towns around us here in SW Ga would at least entertain the idea of possibly combining our Field Day events one year, you know? We'd have SO many more people and learn SO much more from those extra folks with all of the new fangled fancy ham toys but...it seems like it's against some unwritten law for clubs to blend or intermingle during Field Day and I think the reason it can't happen is not a good one...like that know-it-all, legend on their own mind type personality would not gain their proper Op of the Century accolades if they were to be shown up in some way but...I dunno. With only 6 or 7 people it's just so boooring and so much work too. Does anyone have any cheese to accent my whine??? :)

Man does this resonate with me. Our county is one of the smaller in the state at +-100,000.

There's a long history of two different camps being nearly opposing forces. One claiming to be the De facto EMCOMM authority. They didn't like ARES and dumped it, (realized it wasn't their possession) went it alone, all along trying to gain county EOC personnel status. (Some say they presented as such at times) Long story short, there was supposed to be a joint Field Day, demonstrating their joint worth and abilities to the community in case of disaster. As usual, the big egos on both sides couldn't think or act operationally, and it didn't come to pass. Very sad, because as you stated above, "SO much more" could have been. I tip my hat to the select few who did visit both sites.

So much talent in men, lost, as they act like children and/or dictators.
 

N8OHU

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Jun 9, 2012
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profiledescent, that's kind of the way it is here; we have three radio clubs in the county, two of which get along well enough to work together, and a third that will work with the others if they get to call the shots, which doesn't happen often.
 
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